How are campus IT professionals keeping up with changing
technologies, the demand for Wi-Fi and the funding challenges
that go along with that? Read what some colleges and universities
are doing to meet the wireless challenge on a special Campus
Technology microsite sponsored by SBC. This special section on the
connected campus looks at networked technologies through
articles, case studies, white papers and more.

Members of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) elected
Deborah
Harrison, Ph.D., global marketing manager of education and corporate training
at
video systems and services provider Tandberg Inc. as president of the non-profit
organization.

Harrison is a nine-year veteran of the USDLA board of directors and a five-year
member of the association's executive committee. She has been involved in distance
education since 1995, and was the founding board chair for the Texas Distance
Learning Association as well as a past president of that organization.

"I will work hard to continue USDLA's tradition of advocacy for our distance
learning
community," Dr. Harrison said. "We have much to look forward to in
2005." She noted
that USDLA's Distance Learning Accreditation Bureau will launch officially in
2005.

The University of Notre Dame will build a hosted Voice over IP (VoIP) network,
which
will be one of the largest of its kind in the country, according to industry
analyst
organizations. UND awarded a 5-year contract to SBC Communications Inc. to replace
the university's Centrex-based network with hosted VoIP network that twill serve
7,000 users on the university's main campus and in remote offices across the
country.

VoIP service will give the faculty and administrative staff a range of features,
including a single inbox for voice and e-mail messages, "click-to-call"
functionality
from computers, and "find me, follow me" call routing options, all
accessible via
personalized Web pages. The solution also will provide plug-and-play functionality,
allowing faculty and staff to move locations, add new phones, or change service
quickly and easily. Users will access the service from any Internet connection,
in
classrooms or faculty offices, on-location or remotely.

Compatibility with wireless IP networking technologies, such as wireless local-area
networks and Wi-Fi, is planned, which will enable the university to move toward
a
single, integrated network that will accommodate both wireless and wireline
voice
and data services.

Cal-(IT)2 $300,000 Contest to Promote Faculty Collaboration

The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology
(Cal-(IT)2),
a joint venture of the University of California at Irvine and UC San Diego,
will
administer a new $300,000 prize to promote collaboration among its faculty.
The
Nicholas Foundation Prize for Cross-Disciplinary Research, endowed with a grant
from Broadcom Corp. co-founder and co-chairman Henry Nicholas, will recognize
"high-risk/high-yield" pilot research investigations. This is the
first year in a
multi-year program, with future levels of funding to be determined each year
depending upon the quantity and quality of entrants. First-year winners will
be
announced in January.

“The establishment of this prize is a logical step as we build our partnership
in
the areas of telecommunications and information technology,” " said
Nicholas in
making the award. “I expect to see more collaboration with our colleagues
at UCI
in the months and years ahead." Cal-(IT)2 will issue a Call for Proposals,
with
teams of two or more tenure-track faculty members eligible for the prize. Funded
proposals can start work after January 2005.

UC Berkeley Researchers Sound Alarm for Florida E-Vote

A research team at the University of California at Berkeley released a statistical
study last week reporting that irregularities with electronic voting machines
may
have awarded between 130,000 to 260,000 excess votes to President George Bush
in
Florida in the 2004 presidential election.

The study showed a discrepancy between votes for President Bush in counties
where
electronic voting machines were used versus counties using traditional voting
methods.
"For the sake of all future elections involving electronic voting - someone
must
investigate and explain the statistical anomalies in Florida," said Professor
Michael Hout. The research team is comprised of doctoral students and faculty
in
the UC Berkeley sociology department, and led by Sociology Professor Michael
Hout,
an expert on statistical methods and a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and the UC Berkeley Survey Research Center.

"No matter how many factors and variables we took into consideration,
the significant
correlation in the votes for President Bush and electronic voting cannot be
explained,"
said Hout. "The study shows that a county's use of electronic voting resulted
in a
disproportionate increase in votes for President Bush. There is just a trivial
probability of evidence like this appearing in a population where the true difference
is zero - less than once in a thousand chances."

Casino giant Harrah's Foundation pledged $1 million to endow the Philip G.
Satre
Chair in Gaming Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. Satre is chairman
of the
board of Harrah’s and has been associated with casino gaming since its
beginnings
in the state.

The Satre Chair will be held by William R. Eadington, Professor of Economics
and
Director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at
UNR.
Mike Reed, dean of UNR's College of Business Administration, called Eadington
a
“pioneer in the evolution of the gaming industry.”

"Over the past 35 years, his research and analysis have greatly advanced
our
understanding of gambling, and have helped legitimize casino gaming as an accepted
form of entertainment. The endowment of the Satre Chair will allow Bill and
his
team to further advance their invaluable work, and cement the University's reputation
as the world's leader in gaming studies."